For Black Administrators, Little Progress and Few Openings

In 1969, when the Rockefeller Foundation first began its leadership
training program in an attempt to increase the number of minority
administrators, only 17 black superintendents were identified
nationwide.

Today, 13 years later, fewer than 100 of the 16,000 school districts
in the U.S. are headed by blacks, according to a recent study of women
and minorities in school administration by the American Association of
School Administrators (aasa). During this same period, the proportion
of minority students in the nation's public schools increased
dramatically, particularly in large urban school systems.

It is in these city school systems--now made up predominantly of
minority-group students and often in severe fiscal distress--that most
black superintendents, and their colleagues at lower levels of
administration, are serving.

The aasa survey also confirmed a widely held belief that the number
of black men and women in school administration is not keeping pace
with the proportion of blacks in the population at large. It found that
black men and women occupy only 8.7 percent of the total number of
school-administrator positions in the U.S.; blacks constitute 11.7
percent of the nation's population.

Of the 7,417 school superintendents in-volved in the aasa survey,
fewer than than 1 percent were black men and women. The survey included
50 states and the District of Columbia, but only 28 states provided
data on both ethnicity and sex of school-system officials.

Superintendencies Reported

About 6.6 percent of the 3,094 deputy or assistant school
superintendencies reported on were held by black men and women. And
among the 43,008 school principalships reported on in the survey, about
3,332 or 7.7 percent were occupied by black men and women.

In fact, according to the school-administrators' and other studies,
the number of school principalships held by blacks has declined
substantially since the mid-1960's.

For black administrators to attain the proportional representation
that blacks have in the larger society, their number would have to
increase by 50 percent--a highly unlikely prospect, according to the
aasa study.

The study notes that the proportion of minority teachers--the pool
from which black administrators would be drawn--is even smaller, 7.8
percent.

"These figures are indeed grim in light of the growth of minority
children in the schools," the report states. It adds that "the
underrepresentation of minorities in teaching and school
administration" is attributable not just to the "lack of recruitment of
more minority teachers, but [to] their lack of preparation to enter the
profession, and [to] their inability to obtain a higher education."

Taking exception to that conclusion, Ronald R. Edmonds, professor of
education at Michigan State University and the author of widely cited
studies on the qualities of "effective schools," said that any growth
in the number of black administrators will depend largely on "those who
are already experienced, certified, and teaching."

"We cannot look to those presently entering the field as the source
for solving the problem," Mr. Edmonds said, citing the layoffs of young
teachers that have resulted from declining enrollments.

Several administrators said in interviews, however, that they
believe the current period of retrenchment in education will combine
with what they view as the continuation of discriminatory hiring
practices to further diminish the number of professional opportunities
for black educators.

"We're not in a growth era, so the opportunities are just not there
now," said Willie W. Herenton, superintendent of the Memphis public
schools. "The very small gains we've made are the ones we should
struggle to maintain."

Jobs Unattractive

Not only are there relatively few black administrators, according to
Charles D. Moody, a professor of education at the University of
Michigan, but the majority of them serve in urban school systems with
social and economic problems so severe that the jobs are "no longer
attractive to white males."

In his 1980 book entitled The Black School Superintendent: Messiah
or Scapegoat?, Hugh J. Scott, dean of the division of educational
programs at Hunter College, agreed, contending that the number of black
administrators "will rise in proportion to the number of school
districts that are becoming bankrupt."

"Very rarely does a black become superintendent when a district is
financially solvent," Mr. Scott asserted.

"In most big, urban areas, you're going to find a black
superintendent," said Everett J. Williams, area superintendent of the
New Orleans school district. White administrators, he explained, are
not anxious to take on school districts that have predominantly black
student enrollments.

The Council of Great City Schools estimates that 75 percent of the
five million students in the 28 urban shool systems it represents are
members of minority groups, and 30 percent are from families whose
income is below the poverty level.

"The perception is that the school district is difficult to manage
because of the problems of minority students," Mr. Williams said. White
school administrators "don't know what to do, so they turn the system
over to black administrators."

Mr. Moody, who founded the National Alliance of Black School
Educators after conducting a survey of black superintendents in 1970,
contended that black superintendents are most often hired by school
boards made up mostly of black or other minority members. In addition,
the districts usually have a severe budget deficit and receive a
considerable amount of federal aid for compensatory education.

In such communities, he added, many citizens have lost confidence in
the public schools and are not likely to be supportive.

Positions Lost

Although comprehensive national data on blacks in administrative
positions are not available, several regional studies suggest that more
blacks occupied administrative positions prior to school desegregation.
But when school districts were consolidated, minority administrators
often lost their positions or were demoted.

For example, in Delaware the number of black principals declined
from 50 in 1964 to 16 in 1970. In Virginia, there were 107 black
secondary-school principals in 1964, compared to 10 in 1970.

The most dramatic decline found by the aasa occurred in Kentucky,
where 350 black principals were reported in 1964 and only 36 in
1970.

The pattern linking black administrators to predominantly black
urban systems that has developed over the years will probably continue
for some time, according to Mr. Scott.

"There's less chance that blacks will be found heading up
predominantly white districts," said the Hunter College dean, who from
1970 to 1973 was superintendent of the District of Columbia school
system.

"School boards want an administrator who is experienced," he noted,
and because of discrimination, "there aren't a great number of blacks
who've had upper-echelon experience."

According to Alonzo A. Crim, Atlanta's superintendent, school boards
in predominantly white districts "don't look for competent black
administrators" until the system has "tipped" toward racial imbal-ance.
Minority educators, he said, have "tended not to aspire [to positions
of leadership] because they've been closed out" of administrative
positions in predominantly white school districts.

Richard Green, who was promoted from within to become superintendent
of the Minneapolis public schools, said that, historically, the
position of superintendent has not been filled by black educators. And
since the advent of integration, he added, blacks have had even fewer
opportunities.

Mr. Green, who has served in the Minneapolis school system
throughout most of his career, became one of the few black
superintendents to head a major urban school system of mostly white
students when he was selected in 1978. "My knowledge of the system and
the environment were crucial elements," he said of his hiring.

"It makes a difference when your knowledge of the environment is
strong, depending on the system," Mr. Green said. "If it's a closed
system and there is [resistance] to having an outsider," he said, a
black will not be given an opportunity regard-less of how well he
understands the community.

While acknowledging that "we have a long way to go before we reach
parity," Bruce E. Williams of the Rockefeller Foundation argued that
competent black administrators do exist.

The inability of black educators to penetrate the nonurban and
predominantly white school systems, Mr. Moody asserted, is largely due
to closed-door policies of local school boards and the inherently
discriminatory "old-boy network" that has largely determined career
paths and from which blacks have been excluded.

Even though most black administrators are restricted to positions in
urban school districts, there are advantages, said Atlanta's Mr. Crim.
Predominantly black districts offer black educators an opportunity to
establish themselves as administrators, he noted.

And Mr. Herenton of the Memphis public schools pointed out that
"urban schools represent some of the largest school budgets and, in
some cities, the largest employers."

"Many of us welcome and understand the challenge of the job," Mr.
Herenton said. "We are demonstrating that we are indeed effective
managers, that we can adjust under some of the most adverse conditions.
Unfortunately, we only get one chance. We do not have the luxury of
failure."

But the "most rewarding aspect of my job," according to Mr.
Herenton, has been the opportunity to demonstrate "that all children
can learn and that public education can serve them."

He said there is increasing sensitivity to "the need for more blacks
to participate in controlling the destiny of large city school systems
where the black constituency is in the majority."

"Ideally, I hope the day would come," Mr. Herenton added, "when an
administrator would not be identified for a position strictly because
of race alone, but because of a combination of ability and attitude
that would move the system toward excellence."

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